We all know the story. Boy wants to be a knight. Boy grows up. The king's army arrives, looking for soldiers... but what if our boy, now a man, isn't chosen? What if he's left behind, forced to make ends meet as a shoemaker? And what if his village is attacked while the army is off fighting somewhere else?

Well, the answer is in the upcoming hack-and-slash city builder, Heldric - The Legend of the Shoemaker. The goal of the game is simple: you are given a village in each of the game's levels which you then have to defend from waves of monsters. The villages themselves can be expanded with upgradable buildings, which make you and your fellow villagers stronger in the game's Diablo-like hack n' slash battles.

Heldric looks really promising, especially for an early alpha. Incidentally, you can sign up to test the early alpha, if you feel up to it. There's also a few screenshots for you below.